Odyssey Restaurant?

I am coming to WDW this December with my kids band, and one of the parents has organized a dinner on New Years Eve at the Odyssey restaurant (which is rented out, evidently, for special events). Has anyone ever eaten there? Can you see Illuminations from it? We are there from 7 to 10 - are there usually more than one group booked in there at a time? If you have been there, do they kick you off the premises spot on, or can we hang out, because of the crowds?

Any and all info would be most helpful - the dinner will cost $60 apiece, which translates into $300 for our family of 5, so we want to be sure it's worth it before we commit, if possible.

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View of Illuminations from Odyssey is is set back from lagoon to far for you to have a good view.I know they do rent it out for special partys.Sorry I have no information on what dinner is like.For $60 I would think it would be nice.Hope someone else can give you more information.

This could be one of two things:
1) a private event that your group will be attending exclusively (which normally costs much more than $60 per person)
2) International Story Dinner (which is one of the new "Grand Gatherings" offerings for groups of 10 or more)
The meal includes a storyteller who greets the guests in different languages and tells a traditional story (a Disney film) during a meal featuring international dishes. At the end of the story, the main character makes an appearance for greetings, photos, and autographs, and then the entire group (which consists of many large family-and-friend parties) goes to a special viewing area for dessert and IllumiNations.

Without knowing what arrangements your group leader made, I must assume that you will be attending the International Story Dinner. If that is the case, you don't need to worry about viewing IllumiNations, because the entire event is not confined to Oddyssey.
Since this offering has not premiered yet (it will very soon, though), I can't tell you how good the food is, but there should be plenty of variety, good entertainment, and with dessert, drinks, and priority viewing included, $60 per person isn't that bad a deal.
I hope you have fun, and certainly post your experience on this board!

*EDIT!*
I missed "New Year's Eve" on my first pass... It might not be International Story Dinner, but either way, this is not a regular thing, so the best person to ask about what's involved would be the person who booked it.
Good luck!

There is not a scheduled performance of the "International Dinner and IllumiNations Dessert Reception" (International Storybook Dinner was the original working title) on Dec 31, and there are no scheduled general events on NYE for Odyssey, so it looks like your group has scheduled a private function. If you aren't spending the day at Epcot on NYE, and are just entering for the meal at Odyssey, you will be ushered out of the park at the conclusion of your event. If not, 10pm may be early enough for you to find a decent viewing spot for IllumiNations.
Sorry if I gave any confusing information.
Have fun.
-Steve

Odyssey has not been open as a restaurant with a regular menu for better than 10 years, and is considered a special events pavillion. The meal will likely be a special menu catered by the WDW conventions department. Conventions catering does some amazing stuff, though, and a 3 hour meal on NYE seems very special to me.

Thanks for all the great information I found it very interesting how they use the Odyssey now.If you have time could you answer one other question about Odyssey for me.I have heard it is used has a CM training location is this true? Thanks Danny